


Memorable Conversations

by Sandyclaws68



Series: Making Moments Count [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2015-04-05
Packaged: 2018-03-21 10:48:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3689400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandyclaws68/pseuds/Sandyclaws68
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Iruka lies in the hospital after nearly being killed by Mizuki.  A concerned Kakashi pays a visit.</p><p>A sort-of prequel to <i>Sealed With A Kiss</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memorable Conversations

Kakashi strode down the hospital corridor, face impassive and expressionless, but his mind as turbulent as a thundercloud. He had not been involved in the hunt for Uzumaki Naruto and the scroll he had stolen; no one had thought it necessary to awaken him. After all, one child – who couldn't even graduate from the Academy – hardly required the elite of the elite to catch.

Apparently all that was required was one unassuming chuunin schoolteacher who knew that child as well as he knew himself. And was more than willing to throw himself in the path of danger to protect the boy, no matter the risk.

Kakashi inwardly marveled at that. He didn't share the contempt that most of the village had for Naruto, being one of the few that knew the truth of the boy as the Yondaime's legacy. But he had long suspected that the Academy sensei did, to some degree. After all, the Nine-Tailed fox demon sealed inside Naruto had been responsible for the deaths of Umino Iruka's parents, just as it had killed Naruto's own. That fact gave the pair of them a unique bond, one that Kakashi had pointed out to the younger man during a brief, but memorable, conversation nearly three years ago.

Underneath his concern he felt gratitude that Umino had apparently taken what he had said to heart. It had enabled the younger man to not only protect Naruto, but save all of Konoha from the machinations of a fellow teacher. He was studiously avoiding thinking about the other things he had heard people saying during his brief walk to the hospital; that Mizuki's betrayal had a more intense, personal element to it, as least as far as Umino was concerned. It was none of his business, even if it was true.

He arrived at the room, carefully and quietly sliding the door open. The fitful moonlight made it possible to make out the shape on the bed; the other man lay on his right side, facing away from the door. The bandages that covered his back and wrapped around his torso glowed in the silver light, a stark contrast to his darker complexion.

“Why are you here, Hatake-taichou?” The soft, husky voice carried in the stillness.

Kakashi all but froze, surprised that the man was awake. He had thought for sure that the painkillers given for his injury would have rendered him unconsciousness. “How did you know I was?” he asked.

A muffled snort came from the bed. “Besides the fact that your anger entered the room about three minutes before you did?”

Kakashi swallowed a laugh. “Yes, besides that.” He took a deep breath. “As to why, well. . . I'm concerned. They told me what happened. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help.”

“Like last time, you mean?” Iruka asked, half turning his head so Kakashi could see his profile. “I don't always need your help, you know.”

“I know that.” The implied criticism made Kakashi's reply come out sharper than he intended. “But I still feel -”

“What?” Iruka all but snapped. “Sympathy? Pity for the poor chuunin schoolteacher that let his heart run away with his head and didn't notice his boyfriend was planning to betray the village? Or even that said boyfriend had a – conveniently female – fiance on the side?

Kakashi was on the verge of replying, just as snappy, when all of the anger suddenly drained out of Iruka and he sighed. “I'm sorry,” he said, the words barely audible. “I know none of that is true. I just. . .”

“I feel concerned. Worried. Responsible. I was your commander once, after all.”

He heard the sharply in-drawn breath from the man lying in the bed. “You aren't responsible for me,” Iruka said. “Although I do appreciate the worry and the concern.” His voice dropped. “I'm fairly certain not everyone feels the same way.”

“Because you protected Naruto,” Kakashi replied, his voice flat and completely without emotion.

There was a rustle of cloth as Iruka nodded, followed by a faint sniffle. “People don't understand,” he said, his voice catching in his throat. “They can't see past what they think he is; they don't realize that fundamentally he's nothing but a lonely child.”

“But you see it.”

Iruka laughed softly. “I do now. He's too much like I was at that age for me to _not_ see it. And luckily I had a little help with that, somewhere along the way.”

Kakashi felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth, pleased that Iruka remembered that conversation as well as he did. He crossed the room then, standing beside the bed and laying a hand on the bare shoulder of the man that lay in it. Iruka stiffened briefly, then relaxed with a nearly inaudible breath. “You need to get some rest now,” Kakashi said. “You certainly deserve it.” He moved his hand and lightly touched the dark hair spread out on the pillow. “Good night, Umino-sensei.”

“Good night, Kakashi-san.”

Kakashi caught his breath in surprise, but didn't correct the younger man. He found he rather liked it when the unassuming, but utterly unpredictable, schoolteacher used his first name.

He was halfway out the door when he caught Iruka's final three words.

“And thank you.”


End file.
